Why I Refuse to Watch Ruby & the Rockits

Oh, ABC Family. You try so hard, I know you do. But really, is this the best that you could come up with?

I admit that I'm a fan of other ABC Family shows, like The Secret Life Of An American Teenager, and 10 Things I Hate About You. And sure, they're not perfect, but they are at least entertaining. And so for weeks it seemed like I was getting incessantly bombarded with advertisements for their newest show, Ruby & The Rockits. It's the story of a young girl named Ruby (played by the talented Alexa Vega) who has just found her biological father (David Cassidy) and moves in with her newfound uncle in order to be closer to her dad.

Did you get all that? Yeah, I didn't really get it either. There's alot of things here to pick apart, if you really wanted to. First of all, where's her mother? And if this guy is really a casino singer and supposedly doing well for himself, why didn't he immediately request a paternity test? And why is her cousin in love with her and does anyone else find that kind of creepy?

So it seems a little confusing and weird, but I'll give any show a chance because you never know when you will find a hidden treasure. The first couple of episodes were entertaining enough, and with them being quick 30 minute episodes, I really didn't feel like I was putting in too much time into something that was so-so. But then came episode 3. And maybe I'm taking things a little too hard, but this was the episode with a couple of lines that have turned me off forever.

As it was, I was kind of 'on the fence' with this show, not really sure if it was amusing me enough to keep watching or not. So when the episode titled "Do You Want To Blow A Secret" aired on August 4, 2009, I just kept an open mind as usual. But then I heard a couple of comments that alluded to how normal guys shouldn't like John Mayer, and being a big John Mayer fan (and having seen ALOT of perfectly normal guys at his concerts), I didn't really appreciate that. Of course, everyone's titled to their own opinions, so I kept watching anyway. But about six minutes into the episode came a line that kind of stopped me in my tracks.

Ruby's cousin Jordan (played by Austin Butler) is stuck at a keg party (and he's only 16, by the way). His ride, who was his designated driver, is passed out from being drunk. Let's forget for a moment that this is a family show and we hear some taped laughter in the background at the situation - meanwhile, Jordan asks Ruby to come pick him up because getting a taxi to come to that address is impossible at this point. Then I heard the line that made me pause my DVR: "Um, about 8 miles. But if I get tired, I can rest at that tent city by the interstate. They'll probably have soup."

Now I don't pretend to know alot about tent cities, but I do know what I've seen with tv investigations on Dateline NBC and Oprah, and I know how sad it makes me that I just heard a joke about it. In these awful economic times, I don't find that there's alot of room for joking, especially about those who have become homeless as a result of lost jobs and lost homes. And it's not to say that this show is evil for making such a joke, I just think it was in poor taste, especially with the laugh track immediately following the comment. I think that for anyone who has lived in a tent city or is close to having to go that route, this is a touchy subject. But even for a person like me who still has a job and a home, I found it to be poor judgement on the writers' part to include such a reference in a family show. And since I wasn't sure about continuing to watch the show anyway, this definitely helped to make up my mind.